Consumers are getting used to the idea that nearly all products, packages, or pallets of merchandise will soon bear radio frequency ID tags to help manufacturers and retailers manage inventory. But sooner than most people realize, they may be wearing such tags themselves: a few amusement parks, hospitals, and even schools are pressing ahead with projects to put RFID tags into wristbands to keep track of patrons, patients, and students.

The technology makes medical care safer and more efficient. Staff at the 30-bed general surgery unit at the Jacobi Medical Center in New York, NY, for instance, are outfitting patients with RFID wristbands that record their names, genders, dates of birth, and chart numbers -- the codes for their electronic medical records. Doctors and nurses use tablet PCs equipped with RFID readers to upload this data from a patient's wristband, and the computers then retrieve the patient's record wirelessly from the hospital database. "We're hoping we will eliminate the potential danger of giving the wrong medication to the wrong patient," says Robert Sidlow, associate medical director for the North Bronx Health Care Network. Sidlow hopes to install the RFID system in Jacobi's new 500-bed building, opening later this year.